


Rebound

by theriveroflight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emilie Agreste Lives, F/M, Friendship, Order of the Guardians (Miraculous Ladybug) - Freeform, Post-Reveal Pre-Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25848778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight
Summary: “I was in love with you. Adrien you. I was putting off thinking about it until after I told you,” she says, “but I’ve come to a decision. I refuse to be your rebound, Adrien. You just broke up with Kagami. And I know that you didn’t really love her, you told me that yourself, but every breakup needs time for the dust to settle. I don’t want to be your rebound. I don’t want to be the person you use as an outlet for your feelings. I don’t want things to move too fast.”
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35
Collections: August 2020 - Exchange





	Rebound

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mavicah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mavicah/gifts).



> Written for the August 2020 ML Fanworks Exchange for Mavi! She requested "slow identity reveal angst and fluff and or lots of banana noir nonsense. Any rating is fine, poly relationships fine too." I ended up latching onto "identity reveal angst" and writing exactly 3.7k of it, according to Google Docs.
> 
> Special thanks to Nick and missmatch for betaing!
> 
> All translations will be available in endnotes until I figure out how to HTML footnotes into this.

“See who he really is for yourself, then,” the akuma growls. The akuma goes for the ring, but Ladybug nabs her away from it with her yo-yo. It still peels off, but it clatters to the ground instead, and Ladybug looks away — she doesn’t _want_ to know, more than anything.

But she still catches a glimpse by accident.

Adrien scrambles to reclaim it from the ground, tossing a piece of camembert up to Plagg.

Ladybug rips away the akuma’s object and snaps it. The butterfly comes flying out.

Kagami.

Did she know before?

* * *

_Two Hours Earlier_

“I think we should break up,” Adrien declared.

“I knew that you didn’t love me,” Kagami said, “but I thought I could get you to. Eventually. But now I see that it wasn’t meant to be. So answer my question: who do you really love? Who were you trying to get over with me? Who caused you to fail?”

“I can’t answer that,” he said, looking away.

“I know about this.” She reached for his hand, touching the ring. “I thought it was Marinette. But it’s Ladybug, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry. I can’t provide you what you should have. I’m not the right person.”

“I know.”

* * *

_Present_

“Chat Noir, what the heck just happened?” Ladybug asks, pointing a finger at his chest. “You almost lost your Miraculous! I know who you are! I can’t…”

“Who says? You’re the Guardian now, you get to make the rules. I would have de-transformed soon anyways, I had already used my Cataclysm. She caught me as I was retreating. And aren’t you about to…?”

Her earrings beep. “You’re right. Let me recharge. We’ll talk later.”

Chat Noir turns his back, and they wait. With a final beep, she transforms back into Marinette.

“Tikki, what do I do?” she whispers. “I know who he is.”

“...how?”

“The akuma almost took his Miraculous. It came off. I managed to get her to drop it instead of having it in her grasp, but I still saw.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, besides that you two should hurry up and defeat Hawk Moth so that neither of you get your Miraculous taken.”

“Should I reveal to him?”

“You should only do it if you want to. You shouldn’t feel pressured to because he did.”

The kwami finishes eating. “Alright. Tikki, spots on.” A bright pink light floods the location, and Ladybug taps Chat Noir on the shoulder.

“So what have you decided?”

“I’ve decided to do nothing. If Hawk Moth knows, so be it.” She narrows her eyes. “Because we’re going to defeat him before he can do anything about it. I just have _one question_ for you. Did she know about you before?”

“I broke up with her two hours ago.” Ladybug puts the pieces together easily — this is a far easier puzzle than any of the Lucky Charms she’s given.

“It made her sad enough to be akumatized.”

“And she told me she knew when we broke up.”

“Okay.” Ladybug takes a deep breath. “We’ll survive. And…I’m not going to reveal my identity just because I know yours. My identity is…”

“It’s a greater risk if I know yours than if you know mine. Because if I lose and am forced somehow, then on top of giving up the Ladybug Miraculous, I give up the entire box, too.”

She nods. “Exactly. So that’s why I can’t.” It isn’t the only reason, subconsciously, but Ladybug doesn’t want to give voice to her other fears.

“You want to know why we broke up? Because I couldn’t fall for her. I tried, but I had to fall out of love _and_ fall in love again.”

“Chat, I don’t—”

He cuts her off. “You’ve rejected me enough times for me to know. I get it. My feelings aren’t reciprocated. That’s okay. I don’t want you to lie about your feelings.”

She flings out her yo-yo. “Goodbye.”

He goes in the other direction.

Both of them contemplate what Ladybug would have said if Chat hadn’t cut her off.

And neither of them like the conclusions that they come to.

* * *

“I have some bad news.” Chat Noir is perched on the opposite side of the roof from where Ladybug stands. “My father is Hawk Moth, or perhaps working with Hawk Moth. He’s been akumatized before, but he tried to get me to take off my ring, inquiring where I got it.”

“He has to be Hawk Moth. Only Hawk Moth can see through the akuma’s eyes, and there weren’t any cameras on that fight.”

“That…isn’t better, Ladybug.”

“Well. We at least have a suspect. Now we _investigate._ And you’re on the inside, so you can-”

“I can’t, actually. I ran away. And then I called you.”

“Oh.” She frowns. “I don’t _want_ to ask you to go back. But maybe we can end this without a fight.”

“No. I can’t go back. He’ll steal it in my sleep, if that’s what it takes.”

“What are you going to do, then? Adrien Agreste can’t just _disappear,_ Chat.” She continues to separate them. He doesn’t understand. She knows it’s a product of irrationality. “Your father is powerful. And I can’t protect you from that. I don’t know if _anyone_ can.”

“I…know. But is it selfish to not want to go back?”

“You shouldn’t have to go back.” She looks down. “Do you have anyone else?”

“Yes. I won’t disappear entirely.”

“I…knew you before. I mean, obviously, but I know Adrien. Outside of this.”

“That isn’t a very good hint, milady.” He smiles self-deprecatingly. “Almost everyone does.”

* * *

“So. What’s the plan?” he asks. She falters a bit.

“I don’t know. I don’t…really have one.”

“Ladybug. What was the point of making us come here if you didn’t have one?”

“We don’t know when he’s going to be active. But I…think if we go _right after_ an attack, we can find him before he transforms back.”

“Then we have to wait until the next one.”

* * *

The next attack comes easily to them. It’s an easy akuma to take — not quite Mister Pigeon, but not a hard akuma.

“Alright. Go recharge, and we’ll meet there. Today is the day where we end this fight.”

He narrows his eyes. “So be it.”

Neither of them want to fight, but if it comes to it… 

* * *

Gabriel Agreste has been arrested, and the Peacock Miraculous recovered.

Nathalie Sancoeur, formerly Mayura, is on the run.

And the Butterfly Miraculous remains missing.

When they find Emilie in the coma, Ladybug gasps.

But Chat speaks first.

“I didn’t think she could be found,” he says. “Father built a memorial garden for her. I like sitting near the statue and talking to her sometimes.”

“Oh,” Ladybug says, because there isn’t much more that she knows to say. “Maybe…the Guardians might be able to help with her condition. Suspended animation is kind of out of my realm, but I get a vibe that it isn’t natural.”

“That would be...nice. It would be nice to have her back, and then I won’t have to leave.”

“I’ll get on that, then.”

“It’s…over.”

“Maybe not.” She glances over at him. “But I’m still going to do this, and hope that I don’t regret it.”

“What?”

“Spots off.” She closes her eyes.

“Marinette,” he takes a breath, “can I kiss you?”

She abruptly recoils. “No.”

“Okay.”

“I was in love with you. Adrien you. I was putting off thinking about it until after I told you,” she says, “but I’ve come to a decision. I _refuse_ to be your rebound, Adrien. You just broke up with Kagami. And I know that you didn’t really love her, you told me that yourself, but every breakup needs time for the dust to settle. I don’t want to be your rebound. I don’t want to be the person you use as an outlet for your feelings. I don’t want things to move too fast.”

“I love you,” he says. “And you love me. So why can’t we?” He takes her hands and looks down at her head. “But I can wait. As long as you need me to.”

“I already told you. And…okay. I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

He lets go, at the same time that she gently rips her hands away.

* * *

They don’t talk for a while. At least, not more than expected pleasantries between two people with best friends that are dating each other. It isn’t quite awkward, but it isn’t quite normal either.

What even _is_ normal? Marinette doesn’t normally interact with Adrien in a regular way at school, though that’s because Alya pushed her to make it romantic.

And Adrien has never known what to make of Marinette. Now that he knows, some things make sense. And it crashes in and out like waves in his brain, the exact implications of what she’s done. Of what they’ve both done.

Marinette doesn’t really let herself think about the implications of her rejecting Chat because she loved Adrien.

Loved.

She’s uncertain if she still does.

And he couldn’t be more certain in his feelings.

* * *

They still have a certain wordless communication between them, how they can just plan without having to say a thing.

They still don’t talk about anything. They’re oddly silent when paired together for a class project, and yet they still manage to get the best grade in the class on it.

* * *

Really, they shouldn’t have been so naive as to think it would be over. A new Butterfly surfaces, as they both should have known.

And, demonstrated through that partner project, their partnership and non-communication is just as intact as ever. Eye contact is enough to communicate plans. Neither of them say a word. No quips or puns or pickup lines from Chat. Just everything necessary — the commands for their powers.

* * *

A balcony, in the middle of the night. The stars are concealed by the light pollution in the city.

“Marinette, I’m sick of the silence between us,” Chat Noir says. “I can’t give you what you need if you don’t tell me.”

“I don’t know what I want,” she answers, her voice shaking. “I don’t _know_ what I need right now. And I can’t share knowledge that I don’t have.”

“So you need more time.”

She doesn’t look him in the eyes. “Yes.”

“I understand. You’re confused.”

“For a long time I rejected you.” And she was dead silent for a few minutes.

“And now I’m not sure if that was right. I tried to move on from you. I…thought I had succeeded, but now that I know…I’m not so sure anymore.”

“You have as much time as you need.”

He gives her a hug, and then leaves.

* * *

“Luka, would you consider us to be dating?”

“No. We never said for sure. So I’d answer no. Do you…want us to be?”

“I thought that I did, but I’m not sure anymore.”

“It shows. I can feel it in your heartsong that you’re not sure what you should do. That you don’t know where to go.”

“I needed to be honest with you about that at least,” she says. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I should do.”

“It’s okay to be uncertain, Marinette.”

“But it isn’t okay to play with your feelings.”

“You’re being honest with me, Marinette. And so you aren’t misleading me. Not at all.”

She looks him dead in the eyes. “Thank you.”

* * *

“For whatever it’s worth from me,” Marinette begins, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Kagami asks. “You did nothing to cause our breakup. I knew that he was using my interest in him as a desperate attempt to get over someone he loved. And I thought that someone was you, but it wasn’t.”

It _was,_ though. And Marinette feels relieved to know that Kagami doesn’t know _her_ identity, at least. 

“We’re friends, though. I’m legally bound by the rules of friendship to support you through this.” She chuckles a bit at the end.

“Friends. Yes.”

* * *

“Hey, Marinette, are you okay?” She glances over at Alya.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been fairly quiet lately. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m alright.”

“Did you hear about the new Hawk Moth?” Alya says, redirecting their conversation. Marinette sighs with relief — something else. And of _course_ Alya would be focusing on that.

“I did hear about the arrest.”

“I wonder how Ladybug and Chat Noir didn’t recover the Miraculous when they brought him in…” Alya trails off, pondering. “Unless he had some sort of contingency plan for it. I don’t know.”

“I don’t really care about him — I want to know who the new one is more,” Marinette replies. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I really thought it would be longer, or that they would have retrieved the Miraculous. Especially Ladybug.”

“If it got lost, then there’s no telling what she could have done about it.” Marinette will defend herself, even if no one knows that she is.

She knows that Alya is trying to distract her. And the only reason that it isn’t working is because Marinette _is_ Ladybug — if she wasn't, Alya would be a lot more effective.

“I guess you’re right,” Alya says as Madame Bustier enters the classroom, putting their conversation to an end.

* * *

She fuses the Horse and the Ladybug to go to Tibet.

Marinette isn’t looking forward to dealing with the language barrier, but she’ll do her best.

She doesn’t have a precise vision of the Temple, but hopefully Kaalki will know where she hopes to go and take her.

“请进来,” someone says when she enters. “脱下来你的—”

“Tikki, Kaalki, divide,” she says, just Ladybug again. “Tikki, spots off.”

Tikki translates between them as Marinette explains the situation clearly in French and Tikki translates it into Mandarin. Times like this make her wish that she spoke it — but then she questions how she would use it in her daily life.

Tikki turns back to her. “He says that he can help you if he comes with you to examine the situation to really determine if it is through magical causes or something else.”

She nods. “And that way I won’t have to rely on you to translate, either. Adrien and him can converse.”

“Okay.”

She doesn’t reunify — just says, “Kaalki, full gallop!”

The Guardian looks at her, and asks a question to Tikki a question. Tikki chirps out a response.

“He asked which Miraculous you use. I told him the Ladybug.”

“Okay. Voyage!” She thinks of the garden that Adrien showed her, the statue of Emilie, the plant life.

They step through the portal.

She calls Adrien’s phone from the horseshoe.

“I went to the Temple. We’re in the mansion when you’re ready.”

Adrien hasn’t been staying at the mansion. He’s been staying with Chloe. “Okay. I’ll be there shortly.” _Beep._

“Kaalki, dismount.”

Chat Noir rushes down into the garden.

“Adrien,” she says, an instinctual smile taking over her face. He returns it genuinely, but it’s a weary smile, a tired one, one filled with just a tinge of melancholy underneath.

The Guardian representative says some kind of greeting. He and Adrien talk a little bit. She catches enough to know that they’re talking about Emilie.

Adrien doesn’t want to bring up the memories. It’s been over a year. But if there’s a chance of bringing her back without the consequences of the wish, then he’s willing to take it.

“Let’s go.” He leads the way back down to the basement catwalk. She catches up to him as they walk towards the coffin.

“I thought she was gone,” he whispers unprompted. “I thought for sure she was gone. And I grieved. And I moved on. And all that was reversed, in just a few minutes.”

“I don’t know what it’s like to lose anyone. I don’t know what it’s like to grieve like this. Fu was…the last person I lost, and we weren’t family. I hadn’t known him as long. And I can’t compare at all. But I can be here to support you, as long as you’re willing to let me in.”

“I thought you were shutting the door on me when you told me you needed time.”

“I can be your friend still. I need time to decide if we’ll ever be not-friends, but I will _always_ be there for you as a friend.”

He nods, tearing up a bit. “I need you right now.”

“So I’ll be here.” She takes his hand. “Even when you don’t. I promise.”

They finish walking, arriving at the coffin. Adrien presses a button to open up the coffin to see Emilie. “这是我的妈妈.”

The Guardian talks for a bit. Chat Noir takes a deep breath and calls for his Cataclysm, focusing on shattering the glass more than anything, so all the machines keeping her body preserved don’t fall apart.

“Marinette,” he says, beaming brilliantly, energy restored. “You were right!”

She hugs him. “I’m glad.”

“He says he needs some supplies from the Temple. Are you willing to lend him the Horse Miraculous?”

They separate. She takes the glasses off. “Use them wisely,” she says, even though she _knows_ that he won’t be able to understand.

Adrien translates. The Guardian looks confused, and then extrapolates, saying that Marinette is the Guardian of the Box with that in it.

“Kaalki, I know you probably aren’t going to be too happy about this, but it’s just temporary. I promise,” she tells the kwami. “At least I hope that it will be.”

* * *

Emilie is brought back and the Horse is returned, though the Guardian (according to Adrien) says that Marinette will have to come back to the Temple again to be officially trained after they finish rethinking their regime and adjusting to modern society.

She tells him (through Tikki’s translations) that she’s willing to help them adjust wherever it’s needed, but she’s very far away and she’s a little wary to loan Kaalki to another country.

The Guardian just laughs, and says that there are more travel-friendly Miraculous. Marinette tells him of her gratitude. Adrien does the same.

And Emilie and Adrien finally get time to themselves.

She leaves him a text.

_I’ll be back. Just wanted to let you have some time with your mother. I promised that I wouldn’t leave again. This isn’t forever. And I think I’m ready to talk about it._

* * *

“So. You don’t need _any_ more time?” he asks when he arrives at their statue, just Adrien.

Ladybug turns to see him. “I don’t. I started to like you romantically that first day, when you gave me your umbrella. It was just…a sweet gesture that left me thinking that you were more than I thought, and from there it was just a slow catalogue of everything that I could have loved about you, and I couldn’t stop myself from falling for you. Your kindness. Your intelligence. Your obliviousness. I fell in love with every part of you — except the one I didn’t know about.”

He just steps closer to her wordlessly.

“I think I could have fallen in love with that part, if I hadn’t fallen for _Adrien_ first. And meeting Luka just confused me more. I wanted to stay true to you. But I didn’t know who I wanted. And then it turns out that I love you. Twice over. All the way. Ride or die.” She chuckles. “I love _you._ And that time I needed wasn’t to determine that. It was to determine how I love you. How I want you to be with me.”

She steps closer to him.

“I guess I should repay that with my own big speech, huh?” He laughs.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want, love.”

“I do. You deserve to be showered with love, for me to tell you everything that makes me love you. I fell for you when we literally got tangled together under that lamppost. I hadn’t loved anyone before. I hadn’t had any crushes. I was barely around anyone that wasn’t an adult or Chloe, and both of them were off-limits in my brain. So I wasn’t sure if I was just…getting overly attached to the first person my own age that my father didn’t make me befriends with or if I actually love you. And well, we all know which one won out.” He smiles. “I love your creativity, your intelligence, your strategy. I love your stumbles and your words and your leadership that shines through. You seem to separate identities so clearly, but really, Ladybug and Marinette are one and the same. There’s hardly _anything_ separating them, in my view, and you’re still the girl I love either way.” Ladybug takes a shaky breath, covering her nose and mouth with her hands as tears glitter in the corners of her eyes. “Are you okay, milady?”

“I’m fine. Just — happy tears, I swear.”

“I broke up with Kagami when I realized I loved Marinette. Because there was always, always that thrum of loving you - Ladybug - that I had running under my skin, but it was different slightly and that terrified me. But then when you transformed back, it became stunningly clear that I made the right choice. That I love you. And that I will always be willing to wait for you, whatever you decide. And if you needed the rest of our lives, that would be okay. Because I would have taken you in whatever capacity you _wanted_ me. I’m so grateful that you love me. I’m so grateful that I get the opportunity to love you.” Now it’s his turn to tear up a bit from joy. “And I’m so glad that we get to be happy.”

“Can I kiss you?” she blurts.

He answers by initiating, his hands on her shoulders and hers wrapped around his waist. Their noses bump into each other before they instinctively work out how to reach their destination. It feels like comfort, warmth, safety — with just a bit of newness underneath, just an edge of possibility.

The two of them might not be forever. But that’s okay. They have each other for now, and they’ll always have each other in one way or another.

**Author's Note:**

> 请进来 -- please come in  
> 脱下来你的— -- Take off your [implied to be Miraculous based on Marinette's actions]  
> 这是我的妈妈. -- This is my mother.
> 
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